Behind the Scenes of Nation-Led Data Work

The syilx people are well known for their exercise of sovereignty and the active use and protection of their knowledge and language systems. Guided by direction from leadership through Tribal Council resolutions, the Okanagan Nation Alliance had been engaging knowledge keepers and Nation members on syilx data governance for years before its partnership with the BC First Nations Regional Information Governance Centre began.

This issue shares the work of the Okanagan Nation Alliance to develop syilx Data Values and Principles and an associated Data Roadmap, and how they have utilized the BC RIGC’s services while maintaining strong leadership and sovereignty of their data agenda.

Build Your Own Data Centre

What’s New in the BYODC:
Survey Functionality Improvements

We are always improving the BYODC based on how First Nations are using it in practice and the feedback they provide. As a result, staff can now save a survey and come back to finish it later — helpful for longer surveys or when someone gets interrupted. Surveys are easier to complete on a phone, with improvements to how questions and response options appear on smaller screens.

For Nations that already have survey responses collected in Word documents, staff can now bring those responses into BYODC without re-entering everything by hand. An AI-assisted tool helps match the information to the right survey questions, with staff reviewing and approving the results before anything is imported.

We have also made some smaller improvements in the background, including more control over what different staff can access, and new ways to add notes and context to data and saved analyses. This helps make sure important information about what the data mean stays connected to the data itself.

These are practical improvements, but they all support the same goal: making it easier for Nations to collect, manage, understand and use their own data.

Our Work in Action

Demonstration Project Highlight:
Grounding Data Governance in syilx Ways of Knowing

The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) is the Tribal Council for the syilx Okanagan Nation and works collectively with its seven member communities to advance and support the Nation's Title and Rights throughout syilx territory.

For decades, syilx leadership has identified data governance and data planning as Nation priorities through Tribal Council resolutions, strategic discussions, and Nation engagement processes. These directives consistently called for stronger governance over Nation data, clearer data rights and responsibilities articulation, and approaches grounded in syilx laws, values, and priorities.

As ONA advanced a Nation-wide data governance approach, it became clear the work could not begin with policies or technology alone. It first needed a foundation grounded in syilx rights and responsibilities.

syilx Data Values and Principles

To help build that foundation, ONA undertook the development of the syilx Data Values & Principles. syilx Data Values & Principles were developed through a story-based, language-informed, and community-engaged process grounded in syilx creation stories, the Four Food Chiefs teachings, and syilx research methodologies. Rather than relying on technical data governance concepts, the work explored data rights and responsibilities through Nation-based teachings, relationships, and ways of knowing.

The engagement pathway aimed to cultivate culturally safe conversation about data. Creation story teachings and community discussions provided a starting point for reflection and discussion, and they were refined through nsyilxcən language discussions on syilx values and principles. This helped ensure the work emerged from syilx knowledge systems rather than external governance frameworks. The resulting Data Values & Principles affirm that responsibility for syilx data is rooted in the Nation's inherent Title and Rights.

"Our knowledge is always holding law and moves in circular ways for our existence."

— syilx Elder

Building on this foundation, ONA developed the syilx Nation Data Roadmap, a living plan that identifies priorities and actions to strengthen data sovereignty across the Nation.

The Data Roadmap was informed by historical and current leadership direction, a data governance assessment, and extensive engagement with Nation members, Nation data governance representative, ONA staff, and community representatives. What began as an organizational planning exercise evolved into a Nation-wide roadmap through feedback received during community open houses, chief and council presentations, and Nation gatherings.

The Roadmap brings together work related to:

• Data Rights & Responsibilities

• Data Governance

• Data & Research

• Protective Data Tools

• Data Sharing & Communication

Together, these areas provide a coordinated approach for strengthening governance, management practices, policies, partnerships, and capacity across the Nation. The Roadmap was designed to be practical and accessible. Visual tools and graphics help Nation members, staff, and leadership understand how different pieces of work connect and where future efforts may be focused.

"The Roadmap brings all the pieces together, and it helps to visualize what needs to happen and in what sequence. It's all here."

— Nation Member

Working with the BC RIGC:
Reflections Written by ONA

BC RIGC's Nation-Led Data Demonstration Projects initiative supported this work. The project provided opportunities to complete a Data Governance Assessment, learn with other Nations, and access tools and resources that supported ONA's ongoing work. Equally important was the flexibility to respect community priorities, protocol, language work, and the pace required for meaningful engagement. 

One of the project's strongest lessons was the importance of grounding data governance work in a Nation's own knowledge systems. Stories, language, relationships, and community discussions provided a stronger foundation than externally developed frameworks alone.

The project also reinforced the value of Nation-to-Nation learning. Opportunities to connect with other Indigenous organizations undertaking similar work created spaces to share ideas, challenges, and lessons learned.

"It makes things easier knowing that there's pathways that are blazed, and it makes it easier not having to start from scratch."

— ʔamtus Nicholas Clark, Okanagan Nation Alliance

Today, the syilx Data Values & Principles and the syilx Nation Data Roadmap are helping guide future work related to governance, policy development, caretakership, and decision-making across the Nation. Together, they provide a foundation for exercising data sovereignty in ways that reflect syilx law, teachings, and responsibilities. 

Working with the ONA: 
Reflections Written by BC RIGC

In 2024, ONA applied to the BC RIGC to become a Nation-Led Data Demonstration Project, with the aim of advancing their longstanding data governance work. ONA set the project's methodology, founded on Nation engagement, discipline, collective benefit, and reciprocity. It completed the Data Governance Assessment in summer 2024. The project then ran as two connected streams: the values and principles, built through storywork, and the roadmap, informed by the assessment results and extensive Nation member engagement.

ONA arrived with a clear sense of direction, and what it drew from the BC RIGC was a sustained back-and-forth: tool feedback sessions, check-ins, and working conversations from the 2024 assessment through to final products in 2026. The exchange ran both ways. ONA's feedback improved the BC RIGC's tools, and those tools and examples gave ONA a place to start. ONA’s interest learning from other Nations led to working sessions with St'at'imc Government Services and a community of practice where demonstration projects share approaches and setbacks.

When the original timeline no longer fit, the contribution agreement was amended to provide more time, so the work would not be rushed to fit a funding schedule.

ONA and the BC RIGC worked together to find a way to share the project's learning more broadly while respecting syilx data sovereignty. ONA chose to share its process, methodology and lessons learned so other Nations can benefit from the work. It is a practical example of reciprocity: sharing what can help other Nations without requiring a Nation to give up ownership, privacy or control over its own knowledge.

Resource Highlight:
Data Sharing Agreement Workshop Slides

The BC RIGC's Data Sharing Agreements workshop slides outline the purpose and structure of data-sharing and information-sharing agreements. They describe considerations for determining whether an agreement should be contractual or non-contractual and provide annotated outlines and examples to support implementation.

Other workshop slide decks are available in Learning Resources.

Training & Ecosystem Opportunities

New! Technology Training Opportunities this Fall
Whether curious about AI, interested in learning how websites are built, or want to develop skills in mapping and GIS/GPS technology, many of the FNTC’s courses are designed as a starting point and do not require previous experience in the subject area. View Upcoming Courses

BC First Nations Public Service Secretariat
Free skills training for governance.
View Upcoming Training Opportunities

OCAP® (Ownership, Control, Access, Possession)
Learn the Fundamentals of OCAP® with the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
Learn More

Indigenous Data Initiatives Zoom Circles
The BC government’s Indigenous Data Initiatives (IDI) team hosts monthly Zoom Circles on Indigenous data work under the Anti-Racism Data Act, covering updates, discussion, and cross-organization learning.

To join, contact: Deborah Grauer at deborah.grauer@gov.bc.ca or (250) 883-4404, or Karla Helgason at karla.helgason@gov.bc.ca